1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an electrical connector assembly or system for subsea use in a high temperature, high pressure, high voltage, and high current environment which may be used as a wet-mate, dry-mate, or feed-through system.
2. Related Art
Electrical connectors or penetrators are used to connect a power source to subsea electric submersible pump (ESP) equipment and the like which pump hydrocarbons in oil well installations, and also in other applications such as high pressure downhole electrical penetrations and other penetrations to provide power to various types of subsea equipment. The penetrator extends through the wall or bulkhead of the vessel in which the equipment is located, and is normally connected to power cables at one end for connecting the equipment to an external power source. In an ESP application, the connection or penetrator cannot be isolated from the pumping pressure for practical reasons. This creates an extreme environment for the connector or penetrator in terms of pressure, temperature, and high voltage.
A number of high power electrical penetrators have been developed that can operate at high temperatures while maintaining a hermetic seal and pressure barrier for both internal pressure created by the ESP and external pressure caused by the depth in seawater. The problem with such feed-through or connector systems is the limited tube hanger (TH) electrical feed-through hole diameter designated for the wet-mate penetrator. Typically, in low temperature installations, PEEK (polyether-ether-ketone) is used as the pressure barrier and insulating component for the feed-through pin, because of the high dielectric strength and structural properties of PEEK at relatively lower temperatures. However, the structural integrity as well as the dielectric strength of PEEK can be compromised at higher temperatures. Therefore, for high temperature applications, a ceramic insulation has been utilized to handle the mechanical stress. Since the dielectric strength of ceramics that are suitable for such applications is comparatively lower than PEEK insulation, a larger ceramic insulation thickness is required to move the ground plane at a sufficient distance from the conductor. However, only a limited diameter space is available in the tube hanger for the feed-through system. This is even more of a problem when more than one feed-through pin is needed.